Pay back time for Ethiopian-born Jamal
Nov 28, 2006 - 9:19:52 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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That gives her huge confidence for Doha, but Jamal is also looking ahead at 2007 where she wants a world championship gold in Osaka and to attack Chinese Qu Yunxia's world record of 3:50.46.
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By DPA,
[RxPG] Doha, Nov 28 - Growing up in the Arsi Zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, Zenebech Tola Kotu practically lived in the shadow of one of athletics' biggest stars - Haile Gebrselassie.
'Yes, of course. I knew a lot about him -,' Kotu once said.
But even though the two-time Olympic 10,000 metre champion Gebrselassie was born in the same region and considered folklore by the entire community, Kotu started her athletics career relatively late.
It was only at the age of 15 that Kotu attended a school organised athletics trial in the sprints and high jump.
Seven years on, now at age 22, Kotu will compete under the name Maryam Yusuf Jamal for Bahrain in middle distance races at the Asian Games in Doha. She is widely tipped to get two gold medals.
'I am planning to win gold over the 800m and 1,500m,' she told the website of the world governing athletics body International Association of Athletics Federations.
'The Asian Games are very important for me and Bahrain. It is like the Olympics. The Bahrain Athletics Federation have given me both moral and financial support since I started running for them.'
Kotu showed some real talent in the middle distances soon after her athletics debut in Ethiopia and joined a running club in the Ethiopian capital Addis-Ababa.
Her times improved to such an extent that she finished third in the 1,500m at the Ethiopian junior championships in 2002 and as a result she was invited to Switzerland to take part in a number of competitions there.
She did well and decided to base herself in Lausanne. Kotu and her partner, Mnashu Taye, who is also one of her coaches, applied for political asylum.
However their requests for Swiss citizenship were turned down.
It was not until another request for Swiss citizenship was rejected that Bahrain - like other states in the region seeking prestige through sport - offered Kotu and Taye citizenship and the opportunity to run competitively.
Both jumped at the chance and in early 2005 Kotu officially became Maryam Yusuf Jamal.
A 33rd-place finish in the first race for her adopted country at the 2005 world cross-country championships was a disappointment, but it has been uphill ever since.
She hit the spotlight with a 3,000m Golden League win in Oslo last year -.
This year she beat the fancied Russians in the 1,500 m in the World Cup in Athens as well as the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, and lowered her personal 1,500m best to 3:56.18 minutes.
That gives her huge confidence for Doha, but Jamal is also looking ahead at 2007 where she wants a world championship gold in Osaka and to attack Chinese Qu Yunxia's world record of 3:50.46.
'I know in my heart that I can make it - happen one day. It was a human who did it. Therefore if someone else did it, why can't I?' she said.
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